OF GREAT BRITAIN. loi 



I was once witness to a very curious occurrence, 

 where a Carp — usually such a timid and dainty 

 feeder — took in succession two hooks baited with 

 worms, on two different lines, and was itself taken 

 simultaneously by both, one hook being fastened 

 on each side of its mouth. The distance between 

 the two rods and baits at the time the fish took the 

 latter was not less than several yards, and the 

 floats disappeared almost at the same moment, 

 both anglers striking together, and the Carp being 

 lifted out between them. The boys to whom this 

 singular accident happened were brothers, and I 

 am sorry to add that, consanguinity notwithstand- 

 ing, the dispute as to the ownership of the Carp 

 waxed so warm as to render a final appeal to arms 

 — or rather to fists — necessary. 



Although, as observed, Carp are the most shy 

 and difficult of capture of any of our fresh-water 

 species, they are one of the easiest to tame. They 

 feed readily in stews, and will come for their meals, 

 according to some authors, at the ringing of a bell 

 or at the sound of their keeper's voice. In the 

 waters of some public gardens near Rotterdam, 

 where the Carp attain to a great size, they are in 

 the habit of following visitors about in expectation 

 of food ; and one immense fellow, with a side as 

 broad as a flitch of bacon, and an appetite that 

 seemed insatiable, actually pursued me for nearly 

 a hundred yards along the side of the bank, until, 

 my stock of bread being exhausted, I was fain to 



